Bridget Austin ’07, a Mechanical Engineering major from Skaneateles, N.Y., garnered a first place undergraduate research award at the recent International Mechanical Engineering Conference & Exposition (IMECE) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Austin received her award in the Fluids Engineering Division Young Engineer Paper Competition for her senior project, “The Alula and its Aerodynamic Effect on Avian Flight.” The contest was open to undergraduates, recent baccalaureate engineers and beginning graduate students.
“Bridget gave a great presentation and aced all the questions,” said Ann M. Anderson, the Agnes S. Macdonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Austin’s co-author.
Anderson and Brad Bruno, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, accompanied Austin and two Union seniors, Dean Pasquerella and Joe Martel, to the Seattle meeting.
Austin’s senior research project continued the bird flight research of Jennifer Panik ’04, using the wind tunnel in Science & Engineering to test alula feathers from the wings of various duck species.
Union’s liberal arts curriculum “produces well-rounded engineers, not just technically adept graduates,” Austin said. “The small campus allows for individualized attention, and the team projects provide real-world experience in the field.”
Austin, who was president of the campus chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, is now employed at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories as part of their Nuclear Operations Program. She received funding for her research presentation from the ASME Fluid Engineering Division. As a first prize winner, she also received a certificate and a $500 cash award.
At the IMECE conference, Bruno presented a paper, “A Preliminary PIV and Analytical Investigation of Wall Shear in Micro Channel Slug Flow,” which he co-authored with Prof. Kelly Black of the Mathematics Department and Martel.
Pasquerella presented “A Comparison of Chiral Nematic and Cholesteric Thermochromic Liquid Crystals for Use in a Light Transmission Based Temperature Sensing System,” co-authored with Anderson.
Travel support for Pasquerella and Martel came from the Internal Education Fund. In addition, Pasquerella’s attendance and presentation were partially funded by the ASME Heat Transfer Division.